Ginger is one of the safest, oldest, and most effective anti-nausea remedys known. By working primarily on the digestive system; not the brain, it lacks the bothersome nervous system side effects, such as drowsiness, that comes with the prescription drugs.
The story of Judy Stevens, is an interesting one. Judy, then age thirty, new that she was in trouble when she made her first flight on a vacation with her husband. Their vacation was to be from Baltimore to London many years. ago. Shortly after take off she became queasy, staying nauseated through the eight hour trip. Motion sickness on the water or in the air had always been a part of Judy’s life.
Since she did not fly regularly, motion sickness was not a big concern for Judy. In the early 1990’s she began making more frequent flights on a small commuter plane from Maryland, making connections in Baltimore to fly south to visit relatives. Being on a small plane was worse. Judy had used Dramamine but found that she slept most of her time away while using it. She finally met someone who told her about ginger. The first time, she simply dissolved about half a teaspoon of ground ginger in tea before take-off. She carried extra to put in her tea at airports. She was amazed. It really worked. No nausea, no queasiness, no anxiety, no nothing.
Taking ginger is easy if you are not a tea drinker. There are 500 milligram capsules available. You may take 2 capsules before boarding the plane. It works 100% of the time.
People with Rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis have to take medications that produce upset stomach. Because of the use of NSAIDS(nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, people with these and other arthritic diseases have had to try many different types of remedies. Some health professionals, including obstetricians, now recommend a little ginger to fight morning sickness. Pioneering studies by Utah psychologist Daniel Mowrey, published in the British medical journal The Lancet in 1982, established scientific proof of credibility for the effects of ginger. He found that subjects put in a tilted rotating chair were less likely to get sick if given about 1,000 milligrams of ginger powder (two capsules) beforehand rather than Dramamine or a placebo.
Another test of eighty naval cadets show that those who took ginger capsules-one-half teaspoon of ground ginger capsules-about half an hour before hitting rough seas staved off seasickness better that those getting a placebo. Ginger suppressed vomiting by 72 percent and overall was about 38 percent protective against seasickness. Protection usually last about 4 hours.
How it works: No one knows for sure, but two constituents-shogaols and gingerols-isolated from gingerroot have had antiemetic properties in animals. Scientific opinion holds the ginger works almost entirely in the digestive tract. Most people can take two 500 milligram ginger capsules which should last around 4 hours. Ginger has no side effects, compared to the prescription drugs which have many side effects.
Caution: If you use ginger for morning sickness, do so only on the advice of a doctor, and do not consume more than 1,000 milligrams daily. This is the dose used safely in studies. No human studies have reported any adverse effects from Ginger, nor any cases of ginger toxicity are on record in the medical literature. It is listed as GRAS( meaning generally recognized as safe) by the FDA. Excessive ginger may also raise the blood pressure. Also, always check with your doctor before using ginger during chemotherapy.
Everyone should consult their physician before starting any drug, whether it is prescription or not. There are some home remedies that can actually interfere with your medication causing devastating results, just as prescription drugs can interact at times causing problems. These situations are rare but have occurred. By 1997, despite compelling scientific evidence, the FDA had not approved ginger as an over the counter drug for nausea and motion sickness.
According to Dr. Krishna C. Srivastava of Odense University in Denmark, investigations found that both fresh gingerroot and the ground spice(less than a teaspoon) can relieve symptoms.
Source: Jean Carper, Miracle Cures
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